Replit

Raised as a usability problem by 33 people on Hacker News over 12 years (2015–2026), in 25 threads.

People raised many different problems with Replit, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.

The newest 37 complaints

Tickets auto-closed; user forced to reopen by filing a new ticket2026-03-26
File browser is completely hidden, replaced by an AI chat window2025-11-14
Constantly changing widget UI and behavior makes consistent beginner documentation hard to write2025-10-10
AI ignores user input and pretends to fix bugs, looping endlessly2025-05-24
Drawing graphics code has noticeable latency because it runs on remote servers and streams back2024-06-04
Must learn a new feature to keep an existing project running after pricing change2023-10-20
Variable hosting costs require user to monitor and understand billing to avoid surprise bills2023-10-05
Logging in makes the editor feel janky and adds steps before running code2023-04-20
Dragging the cursor to place it precisely is imprecise on Android, worse on cheap phones2022-10-20
Typing code on phone is slow without autocorrect; web inspector lacks desktop features2022-10-20
Cursor joystick flies around the screen and is hard to control at first2022-10-19
Copying a class loses sections; reorganizing requires repetitive drag-and-drop scrolling2022-10-19
Emacs keybindings like Control-N and Control-P don't work, and users can't tell which shortcuts do2022-03-14
Green lesson button does nothing when clicked; only the heading is clickable2022-02-25
Interface feels less responsive than before, and now requires an account to start2021-12-09
Must click through several pages before being able to start coding2021-12-09
Bloated app; setting up accounts and sharing invite links wastes a beginner's time2021-06-07
No option to select Nix when importing, so the app won't run2021-05-25
Pressing tab takes focus out of the editor, and the editor is cramped in a small window2021-05-24
No cancel button, so users must phone support to cancel2021-03-04
Subscription can only be cancelled by calling, with no cancel button2021-03-04
Multiplayer join URL looks almost identical to read-only fork URL, hidden behind share button2020-09-15
Generated files stay hidden until several refresh and logout cycles2020-09-14
Multiplayer doesn't work and the limits for guest users are unclear2020-09-14
Database sidebar icon not visible until signed in; error message unclear2020-09-14
With hundreds of shared URLs, the UI is too limited to search and find repls2020-09-14
Lacks syntax highlighting and lags, making quick interactions take minutes2020-08-10
Laggy, clunky interface with no syntax highlighting and limited version control2020-08-10
Files and directories vanish or fail to update between editor and shell2020-07-27
Can't delete Main.java, and leftover template file keeps printing Hello, world! despite other code2020-05-26
Students never discover the interactive command line or .replit file, so they leave mid-semester2020-05-04
Go repl is very slow to use recently, forcing the user to stop2019-03-22
Text overlaps on mobile screens, making content hard to read2018-10-22
Every eval takes seconds and some REPL starts take 30 seconds2018-03-15
Editor eval is slow, inconsistent, and breaks when files are added2018-03-15
Can't find the option to use it anonymously2017-05-09
Certain errors, like calling an undefined function, kill the whole session2015-03-01